Trump praises stalled US-brokered ceasefire in Gaza, claims Hamas ‘has been very silent’ ever since

US President Donald Trump pivots in his press conference to tout the work his administration has done in Gaza.

The US brokered a ceasefire and hostage release deal between Hamas and Israel last year, but that agreement has stalled, as Hamas has refused to implement the second phase requirement that it give up its weapons, while Israel has violated terms of the first phase pertaining to humanitarian aid, troop withdrawals and a halt on strikes in the Strip.

But Trump is nonetheless impressed by what he has seen.

“Look at the job we’ve done in Gaza. Hamas has been very silent. You haven’t read anything about Hamas,” he says of the terror group, which Israel says has been reconstituting its power in the Strip.

“When they were born, they came out with a machine gun in their hand, so it’s not the easiest thing, but they’ve actually behaved pretty well, considering this was not the lifestyle that they were taught,” Trump says during a press conference at a G7 summit.

Another apparently off-the-cuff remark pertains to the UAE, which Trump says participated in the bombing against Iran. Abu Dhabi has not publicly confirmed that to date.

Trump praises UAE President Mohammed bin Zayed, calling him an “incredible warrior.”

“He was dropping bombs last week. I said, ‘Who the hell’s dropping all those bombs?’ It was UAE,” Trump proclaims.

Despite Israel’s strained relationships with many of its neighbors due to disagreements over its policies in Gaza, the West Bank, Syria, Lebanon, and Iran, Trump again expresses his hope that countries in the region will join the Abraham Accords.

Last month, he threatened not to sign an agreement with Iran if countries did not join the Abraham Accords, though he appears to have come down from that demand.

Trump reportedly told Netanyahu in a phone call earlier this month that “everyone hates Israel” for the way it is going after Hezbollah in Lebanon.

But at the press conference in France, Trump says, “The expansion of the Abraham Accords is the other thing that we hope we’re going to get, and if [Saudi Arabia] leads the way, they’d be doing themselves a big favor.”

Saudi Arabia has conditioned normalization of relations with Israel on the latter establishing a pathway to a future Palestinian state — something Jerusalem has refused to do.